Levin, Akaka and Carper are in line to chair the HSGAC investigations, financial management, and government management / workforce subcommittees respectively. The latter four members are new to the committee, filling two slots due to departing members (Mark Dayton, who is retiring, and Frank Lautenberg, who decided to leave the committee) and two slots due to changed committee ratios.

It will be interesting to see what role these new members play on the committee. Sen. Landrieu is likely to use the committee to monitor progress on post-Katrina recovery efforts. Sen. McCaskill is likely to leverage her experience as state auditor (where she audited Missouri’s homeland security efforts in a report earlier this year) as a basis for work on issues with a federal-state nexus. And if Sen. Obama decides to run for President, it will be interesting to see if and how he leverages a role on the HSGAC to strengthen his national profile.